In the past several weeks, the Minnesota governor has signed into law the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act, while the Vermont Data Privacy Act has been passed by the legislature and awaits the governor’s signature. Both of these… more

After months of stress due to ambiguities in California’s “Hidden Fees Statute,” colloquially known as the “Junk Fee Ban,” it seems the collective outcry from the hospitality industry has finally been heard. Yesterday, Senator Bill… more

In this ongoing article series with Citybiz, members of the Goulston & Storrs Commercial Real Estate Workouts Group keep you up to date on the current and emerging issues related to workouts and the Commercial Real Estate market… more

Once thought to herald the demise of brick and mortar stores, online shopping is proving to be a critical element in the revival of the in-person retail shopping experience. The advent of online shopping forced a substantial reckoning… more

Osceola County, City of St. Cloud, and City of Mt. Dora are all set to vote on proposed increases to impact fees that, if approved, will substantially increase the cost of development in these jurisdictions. Below is what… more

If all goes as planned, solar, wind and other clean energy technologies will help us abandon carbon emissions for good. But many green power sources perform their best only when nature cooperates, so an important (and sometimes… more

On May 29, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a motion for final judgment, seeking to impose civil penalties in its first enforcement action brought on the theory of “shadow trading.”… more

The annual release of projections for how long the Social Security trust funds will be able to pay the amounts earned by beneficiaries shows that the gap has grown between what retirees are scheduled to receive and what current workers… more

The Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”), part of the federal government’s effort to curtail money laundering by means of shell company structures, imposes disclosure requirements on most entities registered to do business in the… more

In HUF Rest., Inc. v. Commonwealth, No. 394, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 105, at *1 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Apr. 24, 2024) the Commonwealth Court ruled that a buyer’s failure to obtain a bulk sale certificate made it liable for the seller’s unpaid… more

EEO-1 reports were due on June 4, 2024.  If you have not yet filed your report, you should do so as soon as possible.  The EEOC has provided a late filing deadline of July 9, 2024 to file your 2023 reports… more

On May 24, 2024, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill (SB) 3650, which amends the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act (DTLSA). The amendments focus mainly on refining the equal pay and equal benefits provisions of the… more

Some employers may designate employees for on-call status, requiring them to be available to respond to after-hours service needs or emergencies. A recent Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which applies to employers in Oklahoma… more

On June 6, 2024, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he led a multistate coalition of eleven (11) state attorneys general in in submitting a comment letter (the “Comment Letter”) in response to the Federal Trade… more

Find this week’s updates on 340B litigation to help you stay in the know on how 340B cases are developing across the country. Each week we comb through the dockets of more than 50 340B cases to provide you with a quick summary of… more

Policy differences are endemic in politics, and the phrase "causing more heat than light" regarding federal drug policy comes readily to mind listening to the rhetoric coming from the Federal Trade Commission in this regard.  The FTC… more

As seen in the previous article, whistleblowing cases regularly make the news headlines. And while some of the names of the reporters or the cases are well known, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at the people behind the reports… more

A recent ruling by the Hong Kong Court of Appeal has strengthened the robustness of keepwell deeds as enforceable English law governed obligations. The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has unanimously upheld the appeals of the liquidators… more

The federal wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, is one of the commonly used statues in federal white-collar criminal cases. In our digital age, nearly any significant fraud or scheme could probably be charged as a wire fraud. But… more

It is time to take stock of where we are with potential new employment-related laws now that we have passed the first major deadline in California’s legislative calendar. May 24 marked the deadline for pending legislation to pass out… more

On 30 November 2023, the Treasury of the Australian Government released its consultation paper on a proposed Scams Code Framework (the Framework) which seeks to establish robust codes and targeted measures to reduce scam activity… more

The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 (the "Act") received royal assent on 20 May 2024, two days before the general election was announced and the wash-up period began for the now-dissolved Parliament… more

The Colorado Privacy Act already required prior consent for sensitive personal data, with the amendment now setting forth requirements for purchasing and retaining biometric data. The Colorado state legislature recently passed an… more

Pennsylvania real estate taxes are usually very large line items on any corporate balance sheet. Accordingly, you should be reviewing your assessed value(s) on an annual basis if you are a Pennsylvania commercial or industrial property… more

Prompted by congressional scrutiny of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) efforts to root out those abusing lucrative Puerto Rico tax benefits, the agency has committed to devoting more resources to audits of those taking advantage of… more

On May 20, 2024, US District Court Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald rejected a popular over-the-counter eyedrop seller’s bid for a new trial and granted a pricing injunction impacting two large wholesale membership clubs following one of… more

Continuing to make good on President Biden’s pledge to root out and challenge anticompetitive mergers, the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have asked the public to join the hunt… more

So-called “social noise”—i.e., noise created by human voices—is not an environmental impact required by the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) to be analyzed for residential projects, the California Supreme Court ruled on… more

The UK government's decision to rollback and delay policy commitments designed to help achieve net zero by 2050 will be challenged in the High Court later this year… more

U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest recently highlighted the severity of fraud by government contractors and subcontractors, emphasizing the importance of upholding the integrity of government procurement programs. These remarks were made… more

The Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration are proposing amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that will align the FAR with regulatory changes made by… more

Contaminated eye drops present serious risks. Not only can they cause blindness and other serious medical conditions, but they have also been linked to at least four cases of premature death caused by severe bacterial infections since… more

On June 5, 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the first comprehensive reform to New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) since its passing in 2002. This amendment to the long standing legislation was met with much objection… more

On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published a direct final rule eliminating self-certification for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) when considering contracts for agency goaling or… more

The addition of infrastructure to PE firms’ playbooks is part of a broader embrace of adjacent private market asset classes- After a difficult year in which unlisted, closed-end infrastructure funds raised US$112 billion—down 35… more

This is the final in our series of eAlerts on the Council of Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Phase 2 revisions to its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, published on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule)… more

What is SSI? SSI is a government program that provides monthly payments to adults and children who have income and resources below specific financial limits and who meet one of the following criteria: They are 65 or older..… more

The 2024 Diversity Survey by Leopard Solutions, in collaboration with Above the Law, revealed how diversity initiatives are progressing within law firms directly from the mouths of the underrepresented attorneys. The responses… more

On June 6, 2024, the US Supreme Court decided Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe and Becerra v. Northern Arapaho Tribe (Nos. 23-250 and 23-253), holding that the Indian Health Service (IHS) must reimburse Native nations, bands, and… more

A Texas federal court dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) lawsuit against private equity (PE) owner, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (Welsh Carson), while allowing to proceed the agency’s challenge against U.S. Anesthesia… more

Over six months has passed since many of the principal measures in the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) came into force on 1 October 2023 in what was one of the most comprehensive reforms of building safety legislation in the last 50… more

Debate continues on whether the UAE Consensus achieved at COP28 represents a promising step forward or a missed opportunity in the drive towards climate neutral energy systems. However, the agreement that countries should “transition… more

In a recent presentation featuring Uma Everett, Director at Sterne Kessler, and Dallin Glenn, General Counsel at BTL Industries, Inc., we discussed strategies for succeeding in an ITC investigation, focusing primarily on the critical… more

Each year, several thousand students transfer between high schools in Minnesota. Some of these transfer students participated in athletics or fine arts at their prior schools and wish to continue those endeavors at their new school… more

Managing risk and volatility within a family office structure is a timely and complex topic. During a recent Katten webinar, we assembled a group of industry experts to share insights on three key topics: investment risk, governance… more

On Tuesday, May 21, 2024, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed bill H. 4957 into law after it was approved unanimously by state lawmakers earlier in the year. Similar NIL (“Name, Image, and Likeness”) bills to H. 4957 have… more

Compliance gets a dust off with the new General Compliance Program Guidance released by the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in November 2023. While there is a lot to digest, Husch Blackwell’s Josi Wergin and Natasha… more

What is a hedged executory contract? A “hedged executory contract” is another type of transaction that is eligible for integration under Code Section 988(d). A hedged executory contract results when a taxpayer enters into an executory… more

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule on May 17, 2024, updating the list of chemicals subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Pollution… more

Last year, California enacted new legislation (SB 553, codified under California Labor Code Section 6401.9) requiring employers to create and maintain a workplace violence prevention plan (WVPP) and train their employees on their WVPP… more

On June 5, 2024, a three judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) final rule, which created onerous restrictions for managers of private equity… more

We have been reading recently about a new life phenomenon called “quiet quitting.” Essentially the concept is that one or both spouses are done with the relationship but neither has the energy or the resources to move on through a… more

We now have another new comprehensive state data privacy laws on the books in 2024. On April 17, Governor Jim Pillen signed the Nebraska Data Privacy Law (NDPA) into law, representing the sixteenth overall entry into the growing… more

On May 10, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Managed Care final rule in the Federal Register. The final rule aims to create new standards to… more

In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the results of its 2023 sampling assignment, testing for asbestos in talc-containing products. The results confirmed the absence of asbestos in all 50 samples tested… more

Complete answers may be several years in the making. A year ago this month, in Groff v. DeJoy, the Supreme Court of the United States held that an employer who rejects a request for a religious accommodation “must show that the burden… more

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has selected 500 federal contractors and subcontractors to undergo affirmative action plan (AAP) audits. The names of the companies are contained in OFCCP’s Corporate… more

Below is Part II of our New Jersey Statutory update. As you can see from the below, several statutes were passed imposing requirements on health insurance payers, including new requirements for prior authorization request and new… more